It’s Just That Sometimes I Feel Trapped

Megan Neville

It’s Just That Sometimes I Feel Trapped

It’s Just That Sometimes I Feel Trappedhttps://barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/E97C8D1E-4572-4713-9228-0AB488703B11-e1537404960751.jpeg1449720Megan NevilleMegan Nevillehttps://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ab474671272b30233260ebc72f349b65?s=96&d=mm&r=g09/19/201809/20/2018

He refuses to eat vegetables from our garden, says nothing

grown half a mile from a steel mill can be safe. What about me, then?

But I, I refuse to be a real mother. My body is not a home for anyone

but me and you, and nothing grown so close to this mind can be safe.

That first summer while digging in the yard I found a dog skeleton enveloped

in fur, punctuated by sinew, protected in rest by a proverbial tomb curse.

Was it always that I cannot look into both his eyes at the same time,

or only since the beginning of After? When he dies I will wear a memorial

pinch of his ashes around my neck, a dutiful partner as these leaden puddles

About the Author

Megan Neville is based in Cleveland, Ohio where she teaches English and stares longingly at stacks of unread books that always have to wait for summer break. Her work has been published by or is forthcoming in English Journal, Whiskey Island, Tilde, Moonchild Magazine, and others.